Oven appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a cooking chamber for baking or broiling food items therein. Oven appliances also usually include a door that, with normal operation, pivots about one or more hinges between an open and a closed position to allow access to the cooking chamber of the cabinet. When in the open position, the door may be parallel to the floor and at a vertical distance above the floor such that, e.g., to a child, the door may appear to provide a step for reaching items on or near the oven appliance that may be out of reach from the floor. The door may otherwise be used abnormally, e.g., to climb on or into the oven appliance. Therefore, to prevent abnormal use of the door, it may be desirable to lock the door in the closed position when the cooking chamber is not being used for baking or broiling food items.
Further, oven range appliances, which, in addition to a cooking chamber for baking and broiling, include a cooktop positioned at a top portion of the cabinet for grilling, broiling, or frying food items thereon, typically are installed against a wall. To prevent the range from accidentally tipping over, such appliances usually include an anti-tip bracket that may be attached to, e.g., the wall. However, some consumers or installers may neglect to attach the anti-tip bracket or may incorrectly attach the anti-tip bracket. If the anti-tip bracket is not properly installed, the oven range may tip over, e.g., if a child climbs on the oven door. Thus, it also may be desirable to lock the door in the closed position when the cooking chamber is not being used for baking or broiling food items to prevent the oven range appliance from tipping over.
Accordingly, an oven appliance with features for keeping the oven door locked when the oven appliance is not being used for cooking and with features for selectively unlocking the oven door would be beneficial. A method for keeping the door of an oven appliance locked when the oven appliance is not being used for cooking unless a user selects to unlock the oven door also would be useful.